Europe has lived in an almost perpetual state of collapse lately, with promising deals followed by despair. This was one of the despair days.

One of the ways in which the big banks were bailed out was through an artificially high credit rating based on the assumption that they would always get bailed out if they got into trouble. This was a major advantage for them over their competitors. Now S&P Rating Services is downgrading major banks.

It seemed like S&P was never going to be held accountable for their actions. But after a months-long investigation, the SEC has declared that they may soon take action against S&P for their misleading mortgage ratings in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.

Reports indicate the SEC just issued a Wells Note indicating they were weighing ‘civil action’ against S&P — but that could amount amount to a pittance of a fine compared to the enormous profits reaped by S&P’s misdeeds.

The SEC has told Standard and Poor’s that they may file civil charges over the rating agency’s role in a 2007 mortgage backed securities deal. The formal warning of potential imminent charges, known as a Wells notice, was delivered yesterday.

The United States’ Department of Justice is now investigating the rating agency Standard & Poor’s according to the NYT

You could probably talk to 100 people and get 100 different interpretations of the stock market volatility we’re seeing in real time. The market opened up 1% and then immediately fell to about even. The stock market is not the economy and really shouldn’t be seen as a barometer for the economy.

Whatever S&P’s agenda, it has nothing to do with avoiding default risks or putting the US on sound fiscal footing. It appears to be intertwined with their attempts to absolve themselves from responsibility for their role in the 2008 financial crisis, and they are willing to manipulate not only the 2012 election but the world economy to escape the SEC’s attempts to regulate them.

It’s time the media and Congress started asking Standard and Poors what their political agenda is and whom it serves.

Sign our petition to the SEC: Revoke S&P’s authority as a credit ratings agency for their use of ratings as a political weapon and their attempts to avoid responsibility for their role in the financial crisis of 2008.

Whatever S&P’s agenda, it has nothing to do with avoiding default risks or putting the US on sound fiscal footing. It’s time the media and Congress started asking them what their political agenda is and whom it serves.

Tell the SEC: Revoke Standard & Poors Authority as a Credit Ratings Agency. Stop S&P from using their ratings as a political weapon and escaping responsibility for their role in the 2008 financial crisis. [Editor's note: S&P downgrades US to AA+ with negative outlook / Reuters. Here's a rerun of last week's S&P post] By [...]

No private entity should have the power to bring down a president with an arbitrary and unjustifiable wave of the hand. No company should be able to line up a nation’s assets and orchestrate a fire sale on behalf of Wall Street, and then give them a private showing about what’s in store. They should not have the right demand cuts that destroy critical social safety net programs that the public overwhelmingly supports like Social Security and Medicare, and they most certainly should not be able to crown a new king as they implement Wall Street’s shock doctrine vision for the future.